This week in restaurant openings: Rare Bar & Grill brings burgers to the Fashion 26 hotel, Heartland Brewery starts brewing in midtown, Press Lounge opens their massive roof lounge, Beba brings Mediterranean to SoHo, Traif introduces a farkakt scheme in Williamsburg, Le Gamin gets clever with crepes at their new Greenpoint location, and 200 Orchard is now just a number. more ›

Heartland Brewery has just announced what they believe to be the Largest Glass of Beer Commercially Available (an application has already been filed with the Guiness World Records), it is dubbed: "The Beer Goddess." The three-liter glass holds 6.3 pints, 101.4 ounces, or 8.5 cans...and no matter what way you measure it, it's likely to be warm by the time you reach the half way point. more ›

REMINDER: Don't forget about the Atlantic Antic Festival, which we wrote all about yesterday. more ›

Last week, Clinton Hill Blog founder Robin Lester posted her findings of a trip taken to the Greenpoint Beer Works, a large brick industrial tucked away on Brooklyn’s Waverly Avenue between Fulton and Atlantic. She and another blog reader met up with operations director and brewer Kelly Taylor, who revealed that in addition to filling Greenpoint’s regular daily work order for Heartland Brewery, he has also been developing his own small batch beer, Kelso of Brooklyn. Currently, Kelso is only available by the keg, in three lager varieties: Nut Brown, Chocolate, and Kelso Hop. Taylor’s web site features a list of local restaurants and pubs that serve Kelso; his ale was also served at last week’s unveiling of the world’s eighth wonder, the new Whole Foods on the Bowery. more ›

If you are not lucky enough to have a kegerator, you might want to pick up a keg of beer for some celebrating. It seems like the largest places with the most selection are going to be outside Manhattan, but we did find out that Heartland Brewery sells kegs, and they have locations all throughout the city. (And we find their beer mighty tasty). more ›

This week, Heartland Brewery introduced another speciality beer to their New York locations. Like their well known apricot, pumpkin and holiday ales, this one fits the season--it is light, fruity (we tasted pomegranate, pear and ginger on top of the red raspberry puree the beer is made with, not unlike Lambic), and very, very easy to drink a bit of the bubbly implied by it's name. The beer is served in a glass more well suited to champers than pilsner, too, with art by Daily Candy illustrator Suien Rim. Kelly Taylor, the (male) brewmaster who has been perfecting the ales in the company's Fort Greene brewery for eight years hopes that the ale appeals to women who drinks cocktails, not beer. And that's where we soured on the ale (we were, notably, going to forgive the enormous cockroach that landed onto our Moleskine notebook at the Union Square location). See, we don't think we can speak for all women or even all women who are lushes but as one female who drinks, this writer is a little offended that the underlying meaning here is that women don't know enough--or worse, are scared-- to try beer for themselves and need fruity tastes and an picture of fishnetted and stilettoed legs to know it's for them. We'd drink the Berry Champagne Ale if our friends wanted to have lunch at Heartland Brewery, it tastes like breakfast in summer, especially if we're too hungover to remember that we can think for ourselves. more ›

Jon Bloostein, Owner Heartland Brewery and Spanky's BBQ more ›

Spring is finally on its way. How can we tell? No, it's not the daffodils, or the crocuses, it's the new barbecue joints sprouting up all over the place. more ›

The celebration of St. Patrick's Day has come to mean one thing to New Yorkers: booze. And although we certainly love booze, Gothamist Food is always looking for an excuse to eat, so to us, today is all about finding places where we can get a taste of the Irish along with our drinks. So where to? Although we might have missed it today, New York Magazine gives us a few spots for a traditional Irish breakfast, and for tonight, they've provided a wrap-up of pubs that serve traditional Irish fare. Citysearch also gives us a list of Irish restaurants, and Gayot highlights St. Patrick's Day celebrations at spots around town. more ›

Hurricaine Isabel forced the Harvest in the Square Event to be rescheduled tonight. In its eighth year, Harvest in the Square brings Union Square area chefs to offer tastings of food prepared from Union Square Greenmarket Farmers Market, accompanied by Long Island and other New York Wines. Tickets are $90 in person (cash only), $75 in advance, and will benefit the Union Square Local Development Corporation, which is currently looking to enhance the North Plaza of Union Square Park. more ›